Abdul Majeed ( Dhivehi: އަލްއަމީރު އަބްދުލްމަޖީދު ރައްނަބަނޑޭރި ކިލެގެފާނު) (or Al Ameeru Abdul Majeed Rannabandeyri Kilegefaanu) (29 August 1873 – 21 February 1952) served as

Sultan of the Maldives Maldives was turned into a Sultanate in 1153 when the Buddhist King Dhovemi converted to Islam. Prior to that the Maldives was a Buddhist Kingdom, a Hindu Kingdom and before that a matriarchal society with each atoll ruled by a chief queen ...

from 1944 to 1952. At the time, the Maldives were a

British protectorate British protectorates were protectorates under the jurisdiction of the British government. Many territories which became British protectorates already had local rulers with whom the Crown negotiated through treaty, acknowledging their status wh ...

. Didi is recognized a reformer and has been described as "the father of the modern Maldives". He was fluent in Dhivehi, Urdu, English, Arabic and Sinhalese. Didi spent most of his life in

Egypt Egypt ( , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a country spanning the Northeast Africa, northeast corner of Africa and Western Asia, southwest corner of Asia via the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to northe ...

. He served as the Vice Prime Minister during his father's time. He served as the

Prime Minister A prime minister or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. A prime minister is not the head of state, but r ...

of Sultan

Muhammad Shamsuddeen III Sultan Muhammad Shamsuddeen Iskander III, , ( Dhivehi: ސުލްޠާން މުޙައްމަދު ޝަމްސުއްދީން; 20 October 1879 – 12 March 1935), son of Ibrahim Nooraddeen and Kakaage Don Goma, was the Sultan of the Maldives first from ...

from 1926 to 1932. During his own reign, his son Prince Hassan Fareed Didi exerted significant control over the government through the Executive Council. After his death, the Maldives proclaimed its first short lived republican government under the pro-socialist president Muhammad Amin Didi. He also designed the

flag of Maldives The Flag of the Republic of Maldives () is green with a red border. The center bears a vertical white crescent; the closed side of the crescent is on the raising side of the flag. It was adopted on 25 July 1965. The red rectangle represents the ...

. Sultan Majeed Didi died on 21 February 1952 in

Ceylon Sri Lanka, officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, also known historically as Ceylon, is an island country in South Asia. It lies in the Indian Ocean, southwest of the Bay of Bengal, separated from the Indian subcontinent, ...

. The first Maldivian

school A school is the educational institution (and, in the case of in-person learning, the Educational architecture, building) designed to provide learning environments for the teaching of students, usually under the direction of teachers. Most co ...

, Majeediyya School, was named after him.

References

1873 births 1952 deaths 20th-century sultans of the Maldives Prime ministers of the Maldives Flag designers {{Maldives-bio-stub